1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a card processing method used for a manual card reader for processing a magnetic/IC card.
2. Related art
A card reader which records or stores data into and reads data out of a card-like data storing medium is known. Various types of card readers are used; some types of card readers are based on a manual operation for card insertion, and some types of card readers are driven by the motor for card insertion.
To prevent the user from leaving his magnetic card, the manual type card readers of widespread use are each designed such that a magnetic card is forcibly inserted into the card reader by manual force, and pulled out of the card reader also by manual force, and thereafter the card reader starts to execute its transaction process (data process). In operation, the manual card reader reads transaction information out of a magnetic stripe zone of the magnetic card by use of its magnetic head when the card is inserted into or pulled out of the card reader, and executes a transaction process using the readout information after the magnetic card is discharged.
On the other hand, IC-chip contained cards such that the IC card with an IC chip buried therein or the magnetic/IC card with an IC chip and a magnetic stripe zone increase their shares in the market. For carrying out a data process (IC process) by the card reader for those IC-chip contained cards, the IC communication block of the card reader is brought into contact with or approached to the IC terminal of the card. In carrying out a data process, the card is set immovable when data is stored into or read out of the card. For this reason, the manual IC card reader carries out the transaction process in a state that the card is left in the card reader. In particular, the manual card reader for handling the magnetic/IC card carries out the transaction process after it receives the card and ejects the same therefrom when it is operated in a magnetic card mode, and performs the same process in a state that the card is fixed when it is operated in an IC card mode. Thus, the card reader is operated in either of two operation modes.
The manual card reader for handling the magnetic cards has widely been used. Because of this, the card users have been accustomed to the handling of the card reader for the magnetic cards. For this reason, when the user utilizes the IC card function of the magnetic/IC card or uses the IC card, the user is likely to mistakenly operate the card reader designed for the IC and magnetic/IC cards; he inserts the card into the card reader and then pulls it out of the same immediately after the insertion. Particularly when utilizing the IC card function of the magnetic/IC card, he tends to mistakenly perform the procedural operations of inserting and pulling out the card. In this case, the mistaken operation by the user hinders a quick operation of the card reader for its IC transaction.
When the card reader designed for handling the magnetic/IC card or the IC card is loaded into the card reader, the IC communication block is brought into contact with or approached to the IC terminal of the card. To secure this state, a lock mechanism is assembled into the card reader to prevent the user from pulling the card out of the card reader during the data communication. In a case where the card reader provided with the lock mechanism is used, if the user pulls the card out of the card reader immediately after being inserted into the same, the pulling out operation and the locking operation by the lock mechanism concurrently progress, possibly malfunctioning the lock mechanism of the card reader. This unwanted situation frequently occurs particularly in the use of the manual card reader handling the magnetic/IC card since it needs two different card processings, i.e., a card processing for the magnetic card and another card processing for the IC card.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a card processing method for a manual card reader handling the IC-chip contained cards, particularly magnetic/IC cards, which the method eliminates its different operations, one for the magnetic card function and the other for the IC card function, and further eliminates the malfunction of the lock mechanism for pull-out prevention and the damaging of the card.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a card processing method for a card reader into and from which a magnetic/IC card is manually inserted and pulled through a card insertion slit, and which includes a magnetic head and an IC contact block for reading and storing data from and into said card for data processing, said method comprising the steps of:
inserting said card, by manual, into said card reader through said card insertion slit;
discharging said card, by manual, from said card reader;
receiving a select signal to select one of a process for magnetic data by said magnetic head and a process for IC data by said IC contact block; and
carrying said data process specified by said select signal.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a card processing method for a card reader into which a magnetic/IC card is manually inserted, and which includes an IC contact block for reading and storing data from and into said card through said IC contact block in a state that said card is inserted to the deepest position while a part of said card is left outside said card reader, said method comprising the steps of:
inserting said card into the deepest position within said card reader through said card insertion slit;
discharging said card from said card reader by manual;
re-inserting said card up to said deepest position within said card reader through said card insertion slit when a data processing is carried out between an IC contained in said card and said IC contact block;
carrying out said data processing between said IC contained in said card and said IC contact block by bringing said IC contact block into contact with said predetermined position on said card; and
discharging again said card from said card reader.
As seen from the foregoing description, in the card processing method of the invention, after the card is inserted into the card reader through the card insertion slit and discharged therefrom, the magnetic data process by the magnetic head or the IC data by the IC contact block is selected. Therefore, the card insertion operation and the card discharging operation are successively carried out, and the card insertion/discharging procedure may be used common to both the magnetic data process and the IC data process. This lessens a chance of mistaken operation by the user.
For the IC data process, the card is re-inserted into the card reader through the card insertion slit, to thereby bring the IC contact of the IC contact block into contact with a predetermined position on the card. Therefore, the user recognizes anew that the IC data process is to be performed. This also lessens a chance of mistaken operation by the user.